new statistics painting an unflattering picture against the fight in san jose. the surprising details about the number of arrests made and how quickly police are responding to crimes. and six americans killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan. what we're learning about the moments right before the aircraft went down. "mornings on 2" starts now. welcome to "mornings on 2." a new, significant development to our top story we've been following all morning. we just learned a huge fire at a recycling plant in redwood city sparked a spot fire. ktvu's janine de la vega is there on the ground and will give us an update on the progress firefighters are making and also the health implications for people in the neighborhood. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. let's check your weather and traffic. steve is right there. >> i am. cold for some. there's lot of 50s in san francisco. a lot of high clouds. partly cloudy today. high clouds, kind of cool. high clouds, very hazy skies. hazy and mild to warm. over by the coast, looks like another nice day. changes will start to kick in form. average high in san francisco is 57. today, 67 and starding -- starting off mild at 51. there are a few 40s. half moon bay a big difference, about 20 degrees compared to yesterday. they've lost that easterly breeze they had. there will still be a lot of high clouds. the low right there will merge with this one. that will give us a cooldown. today, partly cloudy. very hazy skies. mild to cool conditions to warm. 62 to 75. 70 in morgan hill. 70 in napa. 67 san francisco. here's sal. steve, good morning. we're looking at a commute that may be affected by the fire we've been telling you about on highway 101. so if you drive on 101 on the peninsula near redwood city all of the smoke may be a distraction. you might want to think about taking 280. let's go to live pictures. the bay bridge is backed up for a 15-minute delay before you actually make it onto the span. no major problems on the bridge into san francisco. also looking at the san mateo bridge, the traffic looks good as you drive out towards the peninsula. it's a little better than it normally is. we'll see if it stays that way. we have a lot of slow traffic on 580 coming into livermore. it gets better by dublin. but then you when have slow traffic on 680 from the stoneridge area down to the fremont area. again, the altamont pass traffic still superslow west of 205. as we look at the dumbarton bridge. it looks good. we talked about the fire. 101 is not all that bad. a little bit of slow traffic in the area of the fire in redwood city. but other than that, it still looks good to mountain view. back to the desk. breaking news from redwood city, we're following a major new development involving an early-morning fire at a recycling plant. embers from that fire have caused some problems in the area. janine de la vega joins us live to explain what has happened. good morning, janine. >> reporter: good morning, tori. well, right now i'm at seaport boulevard an bloomquist where police have the road blocked off in the distance. you can see -- there is a plume of smoke still burning. that's because a smile there of scrap metal is burning at this hour and in the last 30 minutes or so, firefighters responded to a fire next door at the seaport refinery. it's about 200 feet away. now, the cause of that second fire is under investigation. it's a possibility that embers from the fire at sims could have traveled over there and sparked the fire. but at this point, firefighters don't know. we know three vehicles were burning there at this time. now, at the first fire, at simms refinery. that happened at 1:00 a.m. firefighters found a huge scrap of metal appliances. about 100 feet length and 30 feet high bumping. right now they are using excavators to break that metal apart and hose everything down. it's contained. it's not spreading but the fire is burning. fire officials don't know what caused that fire. there have been four fires at sims since 200. the fire marshal said it's not uncommon for those types of fires to happen because they deal with metal and combustible material. in the last hour, there was an advisory issued by the county emergency services. and i'm joined right now by sherry. you are the communications manager for redwood city. there's concern about the air because of the spare-the-air day. what are you telling people? >> we're asking the media to share that if you smell the smoke, close your doors, stay indoors. it's not an alert. but an advisory. so if you smell the air, we just -- we -- to stay indoors. >> reporter: i can't smell the fire where i'm standing. but obviously a hazard? >> any -- all smoke is toxic. it doesn't matter what sort of smoke. smoke is toxic. so again, i think the important point is if you smell it, stay indoors. if you need to call for an emergency please do. but we feel because the fire is contained that if you just -- it's -- we're in a good spot right now, fire is not spreading. >> reporter: thank you so much. i want to go to some video that we just received from our newschopper2 that is showing you the fire down below of the second fire that broke out at seaport refinery. again, we're told that three vehicles are burning there. don't know the cause of it yet but it's right next door to the fire burning at the sims recycling facility. again, it's a possibility that an ember might have sparked that. cause is still under investigation. you have firefighters at both locations working on that. we'll stay here to monitor the situation. you will also hear from the next hour of "mornings on 2" from a person from sims recycling and the apology if he are issuing this morning -- they are issuing this morning. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. >> more details on the plant where the fire is burning. there have been four other fires at this same plant in the last six years. the most recent happened a month ago. that fire on november 10th raged for nearly 17 hours. it prompted a shelter-in-place order in three counties due to the heavy smoke coming from the recycling plant. the company has also been slapped with some fines. in april of 2007, the plant was given a fine for large amounts of contaminants caused by a fire. then in 2012, the company was ordered by the ep ta. to stop releasing toxic pollutants into the bay. during inspections, investigators found five times the amount of lead allowed by federal law and other dangerous chemicals. 7:08. fire crews on the rugged monterey county coast, they are battling a huge wildfire in big sur. this 500-acre fire, bumping out of control near piper state beach. so far it's destroyed 15 homes and forced the evacuation of 100 people. no reports of injuries yet. but containment is just 5%. ktvu's pam cook is getting brand-new information from the fire lines. pam will bring us an update coming up at 7:30. well, later today doctors in oakland will perform one last test on a teenaged girl declared legally brain-dead following surgery to remove her tonsils. brian flores is live with the latest on how her family is handling all of this. >> reporter: well, it's simply heartbreaking. devastating if especially if you are a parent out there and you are listening to this story. we understand there will be one last brain test. that test will be performed here at oakland children's hospital and research center here in oakland on 13-year-old jahi mcmath to see if there's any brain activity. that test is to take place sometime later today. we've been trying to contact the family but we've not heard back this morning. the test today is an eeg to determine if there's any brain activity. as we know by now, jahi was declared brain dead on thursday after complications from a recent tonsillectomy procedure for a sleep apnea problem. this is there's always the -- there's always the chance of complications with surgery. the surgery is pretee routine. she had trouble breathing and went into cardiac arrest shortly thereafter. on thursday, she was on life support and declared legally brain dead. the family says this is especially tough because christmas is almost here. we also spoke to a doctor to get his perspective on these procedures. >> it's a very common side effect to have a mild bleeding event. but something like this is a very tragic, difficult situation. >> reporter: a family says it's not their choice to pull jahi from life support but the head of pediatrics met with the family and inched them but because she had been declared brain dead under state law, she would have to be pulled from life support. they are reviewing what happened closely and their hearts go out to the family. the doctor also said the chance of death in this procedure is 1 in 25,000. back to you. according to a new report, the crime rate in san jose is higher than the crime rate in any other part of the country. there were 3,000 major crimes per 100,000 residents. that's 3% above the state average and 1% above the country's average. the auditor says arrests are down while response times are up. the city's six candidates for mayor all say crime is their top priority. new this morning, six american service members were killed today in a helicopter crash in afghanistan. the helicopter went down in afghanistan's province this morning. the soldiers were part of the u.s.-led nate toe international security assistance -- nato international security assistance. the cause of the crash is being investigated. officials say it appears the helicopter suffered engine failure. santa claus is coming to town. as norad tracks the journey, critics are tracking norad. for the first time, the website shows two animated fighter jets escorting santa's sleigh as he travels around the world. now child advocacy groups are saying this goes too far and injects violence into christmas. one group is even accusing norad of using the video to recruit younger children into the military. norad says the fighter escort is meant to show children that santa will be safe this year. 7:12. a heartbreaking diagnosis is for a 19-year-old richmond woman hit by a stray bullet in her own home. >> she will never walk down the aisle. >> the devastating news from the doctors and how her family says she's doing despite the diagnosis. a potential setback to the nsa surveillance program. why a federal judge says the program is likely unconstitutional. we're continuing to follow the developing news in wed road city -- redwood city at this recycling fire. find out how it could affect traffic. it looks like we'll set a record. not one we're real proud of. that will be the driest record. happening now -- a pretrial hearing is underway in the case of three former penn state administrators accused of covering up child sex abuse allegations against jerry sandusky. penn state's former president, vice president and athletic director are facing charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. their attorneys are asking the charges be dismissed. the judge is also to decide whether testimony from the woman who was penn's state counsel is admissible. richie incognito was reportedly agreed to sit automatic the rest of the season for the dolphins. in exchange the dolphins have agreed to pay him for every game he sits out including the playoffs if miami makes it. and they still have a lot of making it. last month he was suspended due to allegations he was bullying and harassing his team might and former stanford star, jonathan martin. the oakland as may not have to move to get a new ballpark. the oakland tribune reports that as owner lou wolfe says the most likely location for a new ballpark would be the coliseum. he reportedly said that after mlb rejected the team's proposal to build a stadium in san jose. business leaders have been pushing for a stadium on oakland's waterfront but lew wonderful called that -- lieu wolf called that impossible. a brazilian newspaper said it obtained a letter from edward snowden asking for political asylum and asking to help brazil investigate u.s. spying on its soil. in the letter, snowden says he could legally offer assistance, only if granted asylum. snowden is in russia. that's where he was granted temporary asylum for a year. just yesterday, a federal judge ruled the nsa's collection of american's phone records is likely unconstitutional. in his 68-page ruling the judge says the nsa's indiscriminate and arbitrary collection of information infringes on privacy guaranteed by the fourth amendment. bay area people we spoke to say they are not comfortable with the government tracking their phone calls. >> but for what? i don't understand for what. what would you need to look into my call log for. i don't think that's cool. >> we're not guilty until proven innocent. i just don't feel like somebody should be looking into my phone logs and phone records. >> the federal judge put a stay on his ruling allowing the government time to appeal. scientists at uc santa cruz have a unique fund-raiser to help raise money for research on the mulk seal. they will telling these plush seals to raise awareness about one of the most endangered marine mammals in u.s. waters. the toys are embroidered with a unique identification number matching a wild seal in hawaiian waters. right now there are only about 1100 of the seals in existence. due to decreased food supply and tsunami debris from japan. the seal population has dropped 4% each year. doing everything they can to try to help them. 7:18. sal you are back. you are watching a peninsula. you have a lot to see, too. >> we do have the fire, the recycling plant fire that we've been covering since we went on the air at 4:30 it has begun to affect traffic on 101. i want to show you this area of 101. they are isolated here. you can see that hip 101 on the peninsula near woodside and seaport will be slow. basically right here and right here, this slowdown is normally there, we don't normally have a northbound slow traffic commute. as a matter of fact, southbound traffic looks pretty good past the scene. it doesn't slow until after the fire. just give yourself plenty of time if you are driving on the peninsula. let's move along to live pictures. bay bridge about a 10, 15- minute wait at the toll plaza. another ten to make it into the bridge. not a bad 20-minute trip into the city right now. if you are driving on highway 4, coming over the hill from baypoint to concord, it's nice but there's slow traffic in antioch, westbound through the construction zone. 7:19. let's go to steve. >> thank you, sal. very good morning. very hazy morning. a lot of high clouds coming over. air quality is not good. we could sure use some rain. this is a really bad situation. janice just tweeted me. newark, i think. she says what can we do about this no-rain situation? you can wash your car, burn a candle. you can do a dance. i'm not gonna. but you can. if i do a dance, it will stay try for the next year. we do -- dry for the next year. we have bad rain stats for san francisco. this is the calendar year. 5.59 inches of rain has fallen in san francisco. that's it. the total. not for this month, the total. the driest year was 1917 when 9 inches of rain fell. remember, 164 years of record- keeping in san francisco, there was no rain in sight through the end of the year. 10, 15-day models were dry, dry, dry. the end result, it has to be probably a bit above average of the temperatures. 56 to 61 is the average. 67 in san francisco. they should -- the lows are all -- they are in the 50s in most locations. 67 in napa today. 70 today. oakland, 66. 67 today. santa cruz was 74. we'll go 75. a lot of the spare the air. if you have respiratory problems. the good news, after -- it looks like tomorrow, we'll get better air quality in here. a lot of high clouds. partly to mostly cloudy at times. a very hazy pattern. 30s, 40s, 50s. 30s are cold. they are running, what? 15, 20 degrees warmer. 19 up in tahoe. 21 up in reno. everything says high clouds today. that's about it. then tomorrow, that system up there will dig into the north and east of us. that will crank up the breeze. that will help clear things up a little bit. it will drop temperatures in a big way by thursday. enjoy today because things are going to change. with partly cloudy. i don't usually say that. today i think it will be partly cloudy and also hazy. highs today will be mild to warm. clearlake in there, st. helena. upper 60s for money. brentwood oakley, antioch. upper 60s for oakland. 70s, santa cruz, gilroy, morgan hill, cupertino checked in with a 70. 68 half moon bay. 67 redwood city. woodside, 65. cooler, breezy, on wednesday and thursday. it looks like cold morning lows but sunny days into the weekend. thank you. lottery fever heating up across the bay area. just how high tonight's megamillions jackpot has climbed and why it could hit a record by christmas. and do you really need to take multivitamins? a controversial new report that says it might be a waste of money. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. ...are the hands that do good things for the whole community: the environment, seniors, kids, and animals. that's why we created the share the love event. by the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. you get a great deal on a new subaru. we'll donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. it feels good to be a helping hand. welcome back. 7:24. a well-respected medical journal says you may not get any extra protection from multivitamins. using the supplements is a waste of manthings, according to the anals of the internal medicine. separate studies found people who took the vitamins had a slight increase in cancer or heart attack prevention. other doctors are saying multivitamins can be helpful because a lot of americans don't get all of the vitamins and minerals they need from their daily meals and snacks. the fda at the same time is asking if the benefits of using anti-bacterial soaps are outweighed by other concerns. the fda wants manufacturers to prove their products are more effective than soap and water. some studies have shown some ingredients may in the anti- bacterial soap pay outweigh benefits. there are three proposals to house the collection of george lucas. the park service says no decision should be made for several years. it says other projects going on in the presidio needs to settle in before any important decision is made. the trust hopes to announce a decision next february. after much controversy, squaw valley has announced it plans to scale back the proposal to expand and existing village at the base of their resort. the new plan known as the right plans calls for a series of buildings that would have more than 1400 luxury bedrooms. that's less than half of the 4500 that were proposed. the new layout aims to preserve some of squaw valley's historic buildings. and continuing to follow this morning's top story a fire at a recycling plant at redwood city continues to burn. we check in for a live update on how other businesses in the area are being affected. >> reporter: building inspectors here in san francisco are working to figure out what caused a hillside home to collapse late last night. what we've learned about the developer who owns this piece of property. good morning. right now, westbound 24, traffic looks pretty good getting up to the tunnel. we're looking at some slow traffic in parts of contra costa county. i will tell you where. some higher clouds out there. maybe patchy little fog, we could tuesday better air quality. there are signs that could change. if you are just multitasking and listening, look at the screen. a beautiful sunrise. wouldn't it be nice if there was a wireless company that put you on their gift list? well say hello to aio! at aio wireless you can get an android smartphone free with activation. free android phone?!?! yes please. plus, aio has a reliable nationwide network and no annual contracts. it's like the presents just keep coming! a wireless company that puts me at the top of their list? i'm in! stop by your neighborhood aio store or visit aiowireless.com. aio, a new way to wireless. good morning. we continue to follow this morning's top story. a fire continues to burn at the sims metal recycling plant in redwood city. these are live pictures. you can see some smoke there off in the distance. we've been following this story since 4:30 this morning. thick smoke has been rising in the air, which has prompted a warning from county officials. in addition, an ember from this fire apparently sparked a fire at a business next door to the plant. ktvu's janine de la vega is on the ground and she will have a live update for us in the next half-hour. welcome, once again, to "mornings on 2." i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. sal's following the traffic in that area. let's check in with, steve, though, check on the forecast. >> a lot of high clouds over us. very hazy skies. visibility is awful. patchy fog out there. lows are 30s, 40s to 50s much milder conditions, especially coast and bay. san francisco a lot of 50s. 51, i've seen about 48 to 54 on some of the lows there. a different pattern. half moon bay, they were 53. 63 today. walnut creek is in there, concord is in there, it's still cold for some. a lot of the higher clouds continue to stream in here along with an inversion blocking traffic all of the pollutants below so it makes for a hazy pattern. warm. upper 60s to near 70. big changes start to tomorrow. here's sal. we're looking at a commute that's getting busier. we're at the peak of the commute. i want to show you the traffic at the toll plaza is backed up for about a 25-minute delay before you make it on the span. you have to wait through the metering lights as well. that's about 25 minutes, maybe -- between 20, 25 there. traffic is okay once you make it on the bridge. san francisco northbound 101 a little bit of slow traffic coming up pass cesar chavez? southbound 101 is crowded but still looking good. 101 on the peninsula, looks good but there's a little bit of slow traffic near the recycling plant fire as people are beginning to see the fire from the freeway. they are slowing down because you can clearly see the smoke. if you want to use 280, 280 is a much better option to get into the valley. let's get back to the desk. right now, a san francisco street is blocked off after a house suddenly collapsed overnight. you are looking at it. this happened about 10:30 in the twin peaks neighborhood. alex savidge is there and alex, you have new information we found out about who owns that building. >> reporter: well, good morning to you. i've been in contact with a spokesman for the department of building inspection. he tells me at this point, it remains unclear what caused this collapse late last night. this home was in the middle of being remodeled. let me show you the scene. it's pretty dramatic. we're in the neighborhood near twin peaks this morning. the home was being bemodelled -- we modeled. it came to rest here at gray terrace. this home is owned by a prominent san francisco developer. no one was inside at the time when it gave way around 10:350 last night -- 10:340 last night. firefighters re-- 10:30 last night. the homes nearby had to be evacuated. according to property records this home was originally built back in 1941 and is owned by mel murphy. he's the former president of the san francisco building inspection, public reports say, and originally applied to demolish this property altogether but was denied by the city. records indicate murphy was in the process of remodeling this home and it was set to go from two stories to four stories with contractors adding on about 4,000 square feet of space. now, a short time ago we saw a member of the crew working on the project come out to the site. we've seen a city building inspector show up here as they begin work and try to figure out exactly what caused this collapse last night. live this morning in san francisco, alex savidge, ktvu channel 2 news. >> we have more details about mel murphy. in january of this year, a project murphy was working on in the mission district was shut down. according to the san francisco chronicle and the san francisco examiner, murphy was allegedly operating without the proper permits. at that time, murphy was president of the building inspection commission. in march, he was appointed to the city's port commission by mayor ed lee. commiticks opposed that -- critics opposed that appointment because of the earlier controversy. a rare winter wildfire is still burning in big sur and firefighters are trying to get the upper hand. it's waging near pfeiffer state beach. pam cook has an update on what's happening on the fire lines. i should stay it's almost winter. we're a couple of days away. >> this is a huge fire still burning out of control. but the little bit of good news that we're getting this morning, just about an hour ago is that the fire is now 5% contained. it's not a lot. but it was 0% contained at 4:30 this morning. now, the fire has burned 550 acres and destroyed 15 homes. about 100 people had to be evacuated but no reports of any injuries so far. the monterey county sheriff says the weather is a major factor in this rare december wildfire. >> the nature of the fire, the low humidity, the winds, the fuel, it has not rained here at all. normally by this time of the year, everything would be wet but it has not been that way at all. >> 15 homes destroyed and big sur's fire chief is among those who lost her home. about 100 people are without power because of the fire. investigators right now are looking into the reports that an illegal camp fire may have started that fire. now, the california highway patrol is telling us that highway 1 is open and not affected at this point by the fire but we are in touch with the public information officer at the command center there in big sur. we'll have an update in new next hour of "mornings on 2." pam cook, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. it's a devastating diagnosis for a 19-year-old woman in richmond who was struck by a stray bullet over the weekend. the family of dominique romero says she's paralyzed from the waist down. romero was sitting on a couch inside her home on waller avenue saturday night when someone fired multiple shots out in the street. one of the bullets went through the wall of the house and hit romero. her family says despite the diagnosis, romero is still in good spirits. >> she's in pain one minute. laughing and talking to us like nothing ever happened. the bullet is in her spine and they can't do surgery because it's in a very difficult spot. >> richmond police are still searching for the shooter and a motive. 7:37. in colorado, family members want prayers for a 17-year-old girl who remains in a coma after being shot in the head last week at school. clair davis was remains in critical condition five days after the shooting at arapahoe high school in colorado. some fellow students have collected almost $10,000 to help her family. >> in the last couple of days we've had eventsarapahoe and the community. we're doing everything we can to help the family out and heel ourselves. >> clair davis happened to be in the hallway when carl pearson walked in with a shot gun and three molotov cocktails. pearson was looking for the debate coached a then started to shoot randomly when he couldn't find them. there's an orie dance that bans mag -- orie dance that -- order nance that mans magazines holding 10 rounds or more. the nra is suing. the lawsuit claims it's unconstitutional to limit the number of rounds that law- abiding residents have to protect themselves. in san francisco, it's not unusual to see coyotes in wooded areas like the presidio and golden gate park. now they are showing up on city streets. according to the chronicle, they were spotted near the embarcadero and on telegraph hill below coit tower. they've been apparently coming out at night to find food. they've been roaming more often because it's been such a dry year. a south bay community group will be busy handing out hundreds of holiday food boxes. every year, sacred heart community service in san jose organizes a donation drive. each box has nonperishable food as well as frozen turkeys for a holiday dinner. organizers say they still need more toys before christmas because this year there was a bigger demand than expected. 7:39. and lottery fever is heating up. people all over the bay area are rushing to get their megamillion-dollar jackpot tickets. tonight's jackpot is estimated at -- are you yesterdayy -- $586 million. officials say this could top $600 million depending upon ticket sales. people in the bay area are hoping to strike it big. >> it only takes one dollar to get in the game and you only need one ticket to win, the one with the right six numbers. >> if no one wins this week, it's possible the jackpot could reach $1 billion for the drawing on christmas eve. in the meantime, a lot of lottery tickets worth thousands of dollars go unclaimed every year. lottery commission says only about 2% of the total prize money awarded in lotteries is actually paid to the people who play. that's about $800 million in unclaimed prizes. that's because a lot of people think if they didn't win the big prize, they probably didn't win anything at all. one of the biggest unclaimed prizes was a ticket in tampa, florida worth $10 million. by the way, it expired in november. 7:40. it's happened again. another fire at a recycling plant in redwood city. how many times this has happened and the trouble the fire's embers have caused nearby. >> reporter: executives from the bay area are in the area. what they are asking president obama to do. if you are looking at 280 northbound, it's beginning to slow down your hip in the silly on -- slow down in the silicon valley. hazy sky. we could use some rain. is there any of that? plus we'll take a look and see if there's any more record highs today. [woman] you wrapped the... [man] it's nothing but tape... [woman] it's a block. we're havin' a baby! [laughter in background] [woman screams] are we havin' a baby? [ambient crying and laughter] stocks are mixed in early trading as prices remained flat in november held down by falling gas prices. investors will find out tomorrow whether the feds could pair back the bond-buying program. the nasdaq is up 12. the nasdaq is down 4. s&p down 3. and today, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke leads what is expected to be the last fed meeting. he's stepping down and vice chair janeten is expected to -- janet yellen is expected to take over the top job. economists are anxiously awaiting bernanke's news conference. it will indicate when the fed will slows economic stimulus program. 75% of the economists believe that will begin sometime after the first of the year. new this morning, a bipartisan budget bill passed a key test vote in the u.s. senate. democrats needed 60 votes to move the bill forward. the bill passed by a 67-33 vote. that means it will go through a final vote in the senate no later than tomorrow and head to the white house to be signed into law. the bill averts another government shut down for at least two years. president obama is sitting down with leaders of the tech industry, including many in the bay area. one topic on the agenda, the unhappiness of the high tech companies with the nsa surveillance program. as kyla campbell reports from washington, d.c., this meeting comes just one day after a judge ruled against the data gathering by the nsa. kyla? >> reporter: dave, that federal judge ruled one of the nsa's data programs is likely unconstitutional. but the government can appeal. several of the tech leaders in d.c. today did put up a fight when the nsa requested customers' information. google chairman, eric sh submit and a -- schmidt and others are attending. the other focus of the meeting, the add -- the administration's efforts about the healthcare -- healthcare.gov website. these are live pictures of the hearing of the navy shooting yard. the gunman was a contractor who had security clearance. on september 16th, he walked into the washington navy yard with a sawed-off shot gun. he killed 12 people before he was shot and killed by police. british police have ruled out reopening an investigation into the death of princess diana. that's after a new allegation surfaced in august about the deaths of princess diana, her boyfriend and their driver in paris back in 1997. reportedly, relatives of a former soldier passed new information to police suggesting an elite unit of the british military was involved in diana's death. but the police say there's no credible evidence to support the claim. investigators concluded the driver was drunk and speeding when the accident occurred. five years after the murder of a marin county woman, the family hopes someone will still come forward. last night the family gathered in downtown san rafael to remember her. her body was found december 16th, 2008 in the parking lot of the 4th street tavern in san rafael. police say she had been raped and strangled. no arrests were made. she was last seen the night before leaving the tavern with a man. >> i've spent several months going over all of the new clues and evidence and things like that. >> the guy is free right now. i just want justice to be done. that's all. >> ashley left behind a young daughter who is now 13 years old. there's a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case. 7:48. a shortage of hotel rooms reportedly one reason levi stadium in santa clara won't be able to host the college football national championship game in 2017. both the 49ers and the city of santa clara wanted to get that game in their new stadium. levi stadium was among six bidders for the gail but it was announced yesterday, the game will instead go to tampa's raymond james stadium. organizers passed on santa clara because other cities had more hotel rooms that were closer to the stadium. later today, we're gonna get a special look at candle still park as the -- candlestick park as the 49ers approach their final game at the stadium. operators will be giving a tour of the park this morning. 49ers will play the atlanta falcons next monday night for what will be their last regular season game ever at candlestick. candlestick is expected to be torn down sometimes early next year. let's check in with sal keeping a close eye on the commute. talking about the south bay, the 49ers moving down there. how is the traffic? >> traffic in -- to santa clara and sunnyvale on 237 westbound is a little about the slow still. there will be a day when we start to get closer to the holiday when you will see traffic commutes get lighter. i don't think it will happen the first few days of thissing with. it might start to -- of this week. it might start to happen at the end of the week. the drive time is up 20 minutes there as you drive through. when you get over to 101 to 101 you will see more slow traffic there. the bay bridge is a 20-minute delay getting into san francisco. i want to mention highway 4. the slow traffic has shifted away from antioch. it's over in concord getting over the hill from baypoint. that's good. you can see in antioch, there's not a lot of slow traffic. if you are driving on 80 westbound, still slow on pinole and approaching the richmond bridge into marin, we have a delay approaching westbound 580. let's go to steve. >> hey, sal. there was a lot of traffic on 24 this morning and you know what time i come in. >> there was an accident. there's still a lot of slow traffic out there. >> a lot of high clouds, a little bit of patchy fog. very hazy skies. it's not going to last. that's the good news. it will get cold around here on thursday. high clouds, patchy fog and high clouds. january 1st, since then, 5.59 inches of rain. that's it. the driest year ever, 1917. 9 inches. this looks to be the driest calendar year ever for san francisco. that's not good. we could use some rain but we're getting the result of some pretty warm temperatures. should be 56 and 61 this time of year. we're between 62 and 67. a spare the air has been a really dig topic of information -- big topic of conversation. for those with res prit tori problems -- respiratory problems, it's been awful. we're talking about a fire in big sur in december, this is bad. the clouds will thin out. this low will merge with another one. that will start to give us a cooldown. some of the lows in san francisco, never got below 30. 19 tahoe. 21 in reno. 29 ukiah. they did dip in there. up in lake county. a lot of high clouds and very high skies. partly cloudy and then very windy at times. especially down towards southern california. a lot of high clouds, hazy and smile. some of that patchy fog out there. temperatures, 60s and 70s. the coast, inland areas. everyone is close. a little cooler to the east. a little warmer near the bay and the coast. some low to mid-70s. 68, half moon bay. 65 mountain view. menlo park. 67, cooler, breezy on wednesday. colder and windy on thursday. cold lows, but sunny days will take us into the weekend. 7:52. well, every year, norad tracks santa as he delivers presents all over the world on christmas eve. but this year, a change in the effort has some people seeing red. how a fire at the richmond fee rhinery -- refinery could mean changes in the state. welcome back. 7:55. new this morning about an hour ago, firefighters in birmingham, alabama found the two people who were missing after an apartment building exploded. a man and a woman were sleeping in a first-floor apartment when the explosion occurred. they were buried under the rubble from the second floor. now, we know the man is alive. we don't yet know the condition of the woman. but they have been found. the cause of the explosion is still under investigation. the u.s. chemical safety board is recommending major changes to the way refineries are regulated here in california. this after the fire at the chevron refinery in richmond. the board is calling on california to adopt these safety case systems that used in the united kingdom in australia. that requires refinery operations to -- operators to present a written plan for controlling safety hazard. that includes input from employees. regulators would have the power to audit that report and also issue citations. >> i believe it's gonna take a lot of work. i personally like the effect where workers are given more power to kind of be involved in key decisions. >> these recommendations come after investigators found that chevron, according to their support, ignored warnings from employees about the dangers of corroded pipes. investigators say a corroded pipe sparked the august 2012 fire that endangered 19 employees and sent about 15,000 people to the hospital with breathing problems. to get more details, you can go to our channel 2 website, ktvu.com. we've posted the full safety report on the chevron incident. look for it under our east bay tab. 7:57. the city vallejo has paid a normal tribute to the heroic firefighters who recently came to the rescue of a baby. >> congratulations. life-safing award from the vallejo -- life-saving award from the vallejo fire department. >> the firefighters were honored during the city council meeting. they helped to rush the baby girl after she fell into the water and blue rock springs creek while fishing with the grandmother. at one point, the child was listed in critical condition. the child has since made a full recovery. 7:57. a story we've we're talking a lot about, a routine surgery. now a life-or-death situation for an oakland family. our expectations were to have our little girl at home. teenaged girl on life support after having her tonsils removed. what's giving her family some hope this morning. >> reporter: we're live in redwood city where firefighters are busy this morning handling two fires. we are tell you about the possible connection between the two, give you progress on the fires and tell you what it is doing to the air. we're taking a look at some of the key routes around the bay and still finding some slow traffic on the way to the tunnel here, for example, and in some other key spots. i will tell you where. well, the hazy, lazy, crazy lady -- days. what in the world is going on? [uncle]this is hopscotch,okay? uncle go one,two,one,two,one two,one. [niece]okay! [uncle]okay? [niece]one,two three,four,five,six,seven,eight! [uncle laughing] okay,we go the other way,okay? [niece]one,two,three,four,five, six,seven! [uncle laughs]there's ten spaces,you want to try again? [uncle]yeah? welcome back to "mornings on 2." these are live pictures from redwood city. lock off in the distance. the fire is still burning at sims recycling plant. we've been on the story since 4:30. a lot of thick smoke rising in the area. it's prompting breathing warnings from county officials. this fire may have started a second fire. we'll bring you the details coming up in a live report. welcome back. it's tuesday, december 17th. i'm dave clark. >> i'm tori campbell. a quick look at weather and traffic. things warming up, steve? >> for the coast, yeah. some of the fire from an e-mail sending over it over to pacifica. temperatures are above average near the coast. 67 in san francisco. that's 10 above average for this time of year. a lot of high clouds. very hazy skies. patchy fog made an appearance here. concord and oakland reporting that at 7:00. 30s, 40s to 50s. they've lost that breeze. but there's still a lot bit of it there. 52 at monterey. this will be the last mild to barm day. there will be a big cool down. much more so on thursday. partly cloudy. a lot of high clouds. hazy, hazy skies. hazy definitely in there. no air quality worth speaking about that's any good. 60s to near 70 today. here's sal. right now, traffic is still a little bit slow in some areas and we're still seeing some late-morning commuters getting up to some of the roads here. westbound, 80. contra costa county, you can see how slow it is coming in from richmond all the way down to berkeley and then if you want to take blaurt, caltrain or muni. those are good commutes for now. you can take b.a.r.t. and avoid many of the slow traffic areas in contra costa county. let's go to some of the live pictures i want to show you. bay bridge, that's improving. so if you are waiting around. you are seeing some benefit to doing that. maybe another cup of coffee and watch us for another half-hour, gratuitous plug intended. there are no problems on the bige itself, by the way -- bridge itself, by the way. on northbound 280 on highway 17, that traffic is off to a great start. back to the desk. >> thank you, sal. we begin with developing news from the peninsula. firefighters in redwood city are busy responding to two fires right next door to each other. the largest fire is at the sims recycling facility near the port of redwood city. janine de la vega joins us live with an update on the special challenges the firefighters are facing. janine? >> reporter: tori, a huge pile of scrap metal is burning. you can see the smoke. it looks like a haze there in the distance. that is smoke and steam from the water they've been pouring on the fire. it's here on seaport boulevard. a fire broke out next door but that's been extinguished. nobody is being allowed down seaport avenue. we just got an update on when they hope to have it extinguished. they are telling us by early afternoon. now, the fire is burning at sims metal recycling plant. people who live on the marina called 911 after hearing an explosion and seeing the fire. firefighters arrived and found this huge pile of scrap metal appliances burning. it's about 100 feet in length and 30 feet high. so excavators are being used to break apart the metal. we're told it's tin. it is being put on conveyer belts and being hosed down. this is a fourth fire that's happened at sims in the past several years. the most recent one happened last month. >> we're very concerned. we have -- within the last five weeks, we have implemented a number of actions to try to minimize the effects of -- to have fires. one of the items we've done, we've minimized our stockpiles. the stockpile today is a lot smaller than the last time in november. so there there, we expect to -- therefore, we expect to get the fire out a lot quicker. >> reporter: another fire broke out at 6:45 a.m., about 200 feet away at a refinery. several vehicles caught on fire. it's been put out. it's separate from the the other fire. it's possible an ember from the recycling fire may have sparked the second fire. an advisory has been sent out because there's concern about the air quality. it's the spare-the-air day today. officials are saying if you smell smoke, stay indoors. another concern is that there are a lot of people who work at businesses along seaport avenue and because they have the street closed off here at bloomquist a lot of them are not able to go to work today. so they are either losing money from not being able to go to work, the businesses are also losing profit and sims -- we mentioned that to sims and they said they are apologizing for the inconvenience. reporting live from redwood city, janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. >> more details on the prant where this fire is burning. there have been four other fires at the same plant in the last six years. the most recent happened a month ago. that fire on november 10th raged for nearly 17 hours and it prompted a shelter-in-place order in three counties due to the heavy smoke coming from the recycling plant the company has also been slapped with some fines. in april of 2007. >> the plant was given a fine for large amounts of contaminants caused by a fire at the plants. then in 2012, the company has ordered by the epa to stop releasing toxic pollutants into the bay. during inspections investigators found five times the amount of lead and other dangerous chemicals. fire crews on the rugged monterey county coast are battling a huge wildfire in big sur. the 500-acre fire is burn out of control near pfeiffer state beach. so far, 15 homes have been destroyed. 100 people have been evacuated. no reports of injuries yet. it's only 5% contained. now, pam cook is ulpull -- is pulling together new information. and she'll have an update coming up at 8:30. doctor. doctors in oakland will perform one last test on a teenaged girl declared brain dead following surgery to take out her tonsils. brian flores is live at oakland children's hospital with the latest on how her family is handling all of this. brian? >> reporter: yeah, dave. well, they continue to be heartbroken, devastated. but there's also a glimmer of hope and a glimmer of faith as well and from this very moment, this very hour, in fact, a final brain test is being done on jahi mcmath at this hour at oakland children's hospital to see if there will be any brain activity. we spoke with jahi's stepfather moments ago and he said the family remains faithful that she will eventually get up. she suffered complications after a ton sillectomy on monday to correct a sleep an pea qlau problem -- an apnea -- sleep apnea problems. the problem is not giving up. the head of pediatrics met with the family and informed them that because she had been declared brain dead, she bo have to be pulled from life support. we spoke with the stepfather and he remains faithful things will work out. >> pray, pray, pray. faith, faith, faith. that's what it will continue to be. we'll keep it that way. as long as we got her in there, we're gonna keep it that way. >> the hospital did agree to do this one last test. they also say through a statement that they are respecting the family's wishes by not releasing any details about the case that they are reviewing what happened closely and their hearts go out to the families. as we take it back out hear live. the stepfather says he's working on getting a second opinion an independent doctor that they say they are working to bring over here to oversee the test results. brian flores, ktvu channel 2 news. the vallejo city council has agreed to impose salary and benefit cuts on the city's police force. the council's unanimous decision came during a heated public hearing late last night. supporters say the ut cuts will save -- say the cuts will save the county millions of dollars. opponents say vallejo police are dealing with a spike in crime and should not have to face a paycut. one recently retired police officer says he suffered a heart attack due to the high stress on the job. without the benefits, i'm gonna have to stand in one of the street mediums and start to beg for money. i think that's the only way to have the money in order to have the medical benefits that i currently have. >> we want the largest number of police on the streets that we can and -- in order to that have, we have to have affordable contracts. >> more than 230 people crowded into the council chambers before last night's vote. about 40 speakers evenly divided on the issue spoke out on the controversial cuts to both pay and benefits. new this morning, six american service members have been killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan. it went down in afghanistan's zabul province this morning. the soldiers were part of the u.s.-led nato international security since force. no fighting was reported in the area at the time of the crash. the cause of the crash is being investigated but officials say it appears the helicopter suffered engine failure. volunteers in idaho still searching a wilderness area looking for signs of a missing plane belonging to a san jose pilot and his family. officials searched for dale smith and his members of his family, that's ended. but the family is paying for their own search. members of smith's church came back from idaho after helping with the search effort. >> we would have lived with a tremendous amount of regret if we had not gone out there and served. we did our -- searched. we did our best and failed. >> he was flying from oregon to montana when he radioed to say he was having engine problems. santa claus is coming to town. as norad tracks his journey. critics are tracking norad. there's two fighter jets shown escorting hill. now child advocacy groups say this goes too far and injects violence into christmas. one group is accusing norad of using this video to recruit young people into the military. you see rudolph there and all of the rein deer as they travel around the globe. a san francisco house suddenly collapses. the investigation into what happened and the prominent role in the city of owner of the building owns. san jose used to be known as the safest city. a subaru... ...are the hands that do good things for the whole community: the environment, seniors, kids, and animals. that's why we created the share the love event. by the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. you get a great deal on a new subaru. we'll donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. it feels good to be a helping hand. 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[ ding ] ♪ but finally, it happened. perfection. at progresso, we've got a passion for quality, because you've got a passion for taste. 8:15. almost 300 train passengers in canada were stranded for hours inside a crippled train in the bitter cold. that's because the train lost power and the company says two of the three generators on the train failed and when they tried to fix those generators, they broke the third one. temperatures inside that train reached 30 below. that lasted six hours. passengers were eventually picked up by school buses. they were taken to a nearby high school. well, a huge winter storm back east could affect your travel plans today. this morning that storm is moving into new york city after slamming pennsylvania and several other states. the snow and the ice has forced the cancellation of dozens of flights up and down the east coast. so travelers flying in or out of bay area airports, you are advised to call your airline first before heading out to the airport. 8:16. this morning terminal "a" is back open at san jose's airport a day after it was flooded by a water main break. crews worked throughout the night to dry out carpets and test operating systems. just half of security checkpoint lanes are open this morning in terminal "a." but officials say they do not expect that to cause significant delays. that was not the case yesterday when standing water forced airlines to cancel one flight and delay several others. according to a new report, the crime rate in san jose is now higher than the crime rate for the entire country. the city's independent auditor says last year there were just over 3,000 major crimes per 100,000 residents. that's 3% above the state average and 1% above the country's average. the auditor also says that arrests are down while response times are up. the city's six candidates for mayor also say crime is their top priority. 8:16. the treasury department says j.p. morgan chase may have interfered with its investigation into now convicted felon bernie madoff. now, madoff himself has told investigators the bank he used during his investment scam tried to stop the government from getting information about their relationship. j.p. morgan chase is approaching a settlement in the madoff case that would include $2 billion in penalties for ignoring warning signs about madoff's firm. 8:17. several bay area counties could get more than a billion dollars after a judge made a ruling on lead-based paint. the five northern california counties involved the lawsuit will receive between $22 and $9 million each. the money would be used to -- $99 million each. the money would be used to clean up the lead paint. the pain is still in older homes that's been linked to learning and behavior problems in children. the companies are expected to appeal the decision. 8:18. well, this morning, the oakland police department will roll out its new fleet of patrol cars. oakland police have more than 80 brand-new ford police intercepter utility vehicles. they will replace the crown victoria patrol cars they use now. it's the largest fleet purchase in more than a dozen years. mayor jean quan says the new police cars are part of the city's growing campaign to fight crime and make the streets of oakland safer. want to check in with sal. have some good news. it looks like traffic is improving a little bit. >> it is. people who have been waiting around, maybe have a flextime to get in. they are going to find this. let's go out to live pictures. you can see the bay bridge toll plaza traffic is getting better. it's -- we don't ask questions when things like this happen. no problems on the upper deck of the bay bridge. also this morning, the san mateo bridge traffic looks good. often we have slow traffic at the end of the commute. the traffic continues to look good. we've been looking at 680 southbound, still slow from concord to walnut creek. but the antioch commute has evened out, even the 80 commute is much better than it normally is. traffic on southbound 680 into san ramon. it's a little sluggish. let's go to steve. brian drake tweeted me. with this facebook and twitter, i barely time to do weather. he asked why the light around the moon? the ice crystals create that. higher clouds are there. the patchy fog is there. the rain is not there. it won't get here. total for san francisco, again, i will show this one more time for the calendar year, i'm sure we'll show it again before the end of the year. 5.59 total. that's it january through december 17th. the driest year, 9 inches back in 1917. we go back to 164 years of recordkeeping. 1849. the rain year is july 1st. the calendar year will be a record. no sign of rain. outlooks are dry, dry, dry. we'll get colder and breezy. we'll go 67 in san francisco. what's average this time of year, 57. we're just way above on these temperatures. napa, 67 yesterday. we'll go 70 downtown today. oakland airport which tied a record high of 66. we'll go 67. santa cruz tied yesterday. they are 74 going back to 1923, we'll go 25. san jose from 67 to 58. a lot of topic about the air quality and the spare the air. but for those with respiratory problems, it's been a long, long stretch. it looks better for wednesday and thursday. the higher clouds associated with the weak system. they won't do too much. they will give us hazy skies. 30s, 40s. in fact, about 24 miles an hour. our observer said very windy. teens, 20s, 30s, 40s to 60 in san diego. 80s in southern california. mostly cloudy for some. now, again, we get an easterly breeze. that helps the coast. there will be a lot of 60s here. a few 70s. i mean, there will be low 70s. this time of year. it's tough to get this warm. it will be for a few. we'll get a cooldown as we get into thursday. the lows will get back in the 30s. we'll rebound slowly by the weekend. 8:21. trying to put a stop it stricter gun control in one bay area city. the new lawsuit just filed and the key part of the ban that the nra calls unconstitutional. [ cheers a shocking surprise at a justin timberlake contest. how this man was able to get his girlfriend up on page -- stage. the man who organized several protests over a sheriff deputy's fatal shooting of andy lopez has been arrested. ramon, there with the bullhorn, outside of santa rosa last week at the city hall, prosecutors charged him with using threats of violence and resisting officers. he faces up to seven years in prison because of earlier convictions on drug and burglary charges. chiro supporters say these latest accusations are an attempt to silence the critics of the lopez shooting. a san francisco sheriff's deputy charged with bank robbery is due in court today. the preliminary hearing for 37- year-old phil tong is set for 9:00 this morning. he's accused of robbing a bank of america near ocean beach in november of 2012. police say they tracked him through surveillance video and a fingerprint on a note that was handed to the teller. tong was suspended without pay after his arrest. he has entered a not guilty plea. 8:25. do you take a multivitamin? a well-red medical journal says don't bother. supplements are a waste of money. an editorial says separate studies found people who took the vite mips had only a slight increase in protection against can'ter or a heart attack -- cancer or a heart attack. but other doctors say multivitamins can be helpful because many americans don't get all of the vitamins and minerals they get from their daily food intake. 8:26. well, a couple from kentucky in love became an internet sensation after they became the center of attention at a justin timberlake concert. >> just called me earlier told me he has something he wants to tell you. >> yes. joshua clemens got down on one knee and asked his girlfriend, kim martin, to marry him. >> there's no way, there's no way this is happening right now. i got up there. i was in total shock. i couldn't do anything but stand there oh, my goodness. >> think that was easy to pull off? it was not. after more than 100 miles and phone calls, clements finally reached justin timberlake's manager to reach him. he will be here january 13th and august 11th. a big fire in big sur. we've been talking about it during one of the driest winter seasons ever on the central california coast. pam cook has some new information from the firefighters in monterey county. >> reporter: building nepters here in san francisco working this morning to figure out what caused a home to suddenly collapse late last night. it went tumbling down a hillside. what we're learning this morning with the -- about the well-nope developer who owns this piece of property. well, i may get down on my knees. we could use some rain. very hazy. will it continue to stay this way or is there a cooler pattern on the way? [ female announcer ] here's to a whole world of happier holidays. time to enchant, delight and amaze. safeway will help you gather everyone 'round. a smoked, shank half ham is only 99 cents a pound. with starbucks at $6.99, serve coffee everyone savors. top it off with coffee-mate... just $2.79 for all kinds of flavors. turns out this season less is really so much more. so make your holiday merrier than ever before. safeway. ingredients for life. good morning. 8:30. these are live pictures from redwood city. there's a fire burning at the sims metal recycling plant in redwood city. you can -- look at the sky. we've been on this story since 4:30 a.m. a lot of thick smoke. janine de la vega has been out there since 4:30. she's gonna tell us about the warning county officials have. she will be here in about 15 minutes. it's tuesday morning, december 17th. i'm dave clark. let's talk about weather and traffic. steve has the forecast. very good morning. a lot of high clouds, patchy fog. a little bit of an easterly breeze for some, especially out towards part of the delta and san pablo bay. there will be a few locations. kind of cloudy, hazy here. filtered sunshine. lows, in san francisco, many of them never got below 50. 60s for many by noon and then 60s to a few 70s. still cold for some. but not as cold as it was. that's for sure. 52 already in san francisco. higher clouds associated with a weak low. that's off the coast. high pressure inland. high pressure fills the low with the breeze. that's why we get the easterly breeze. that means some near the coast head on up with the temperatures. a lot of high clouds. breezy for some. not for all but partly cloudy today. very hazy. a lot of high and mid-level cloud. we did have the full moon this morning. here's sal. good morning. we still have slow traffic out there. it's improving by the moment if you have been waiting around, your opportunity may be coming or might be now. let's see some of these pictures. 80 westbound, certainly improvement as we started off a rough one between this streach of vallejo and berkeley. traffic is still a little bit heavy but much better than it was. at the bay bridge toll plaza, that's complete improvement now if you want to get into san francisco. this is unusual for it to be light this early we're gonna start that trek toward the holiday and better traffic. westbound 580, the traffic here on 580 through dublin and pleasanton and even the altamont pass, that traffic is looking good. a couple of stalled vehicles. 880, however, refusing to join the good feeling parade. southbound slow from tennyson down to dakota road -- i'm sorry. down to stevenson. back to the desk. a san francisco house suddenly collapsed overnight. look at the pictures. right now, this street is still blocked off as the investigation continues. ktvu's alex savidge is there. you've been there since had:30 and a -- since 4:30 and a team of building inspectors just arrived. >> reporter: this has become a very active scene this morning now that the sun has come up. let me show you the scene. we're near the twin peaks area of san francisco. you can see a number of building inspectors from the city of san francisco have just arrived out here. they are just beginning to try to get a handle on exactly what happened here last night, what cautioned this home to suddenly -- kauxed this home to -- caused this home to collapse. the home was in the process of being remodeled when it came tumbling down. it came to rest above graystone terrace, the street we're on this morning. this property is owned by a prominent san francisco developer. police say no one was inside, thankfully, when it gave way last night around 10:30. one neighboring home did have to be evacuated. in the end, no one was hurt. the home's address is one street up above at 125 crown terrace. according to property records that home was built back in 1941 and is owned by mel murphy. published worst say he's the former president of the san francisco building inspection commission. he originally applied for aer mit to demolish this property. records indicate murphy was in the process of read molling this home now and it was set to go from two stories to four stories with contractors adding on an additional 4,000 square feet of space. but then the building suddenly collapsed last night at about 10:30. inspectors out here trying to figure out at this point exactly what went wrong. live this morning in san francisco, alex savidge, ktvu channel 2 news. we have more details about mel murphy. in january of this year, a project murphy was working on in the mission district was shut down. according to the chronicle and the san francisco examiner, murphy was allegedly operating without the proper -- permits. at this time, he was the president of the building commission. in march he was appoint to the port commission by mayor lee. critics opposed that because of the earlier controversy. a rare december wildfire still bushing along the pacific coast in monterey county. the fire is raging in the big sur area near pfeiffer ridge. as pam cook reports from the newsroom, the weather is a major consideration. >> the extremely dry weather we've been having is definitely considered a factor in fueling this fire and could have an impact on putting it out. it is still considered burning out of control. only 5% contained at last report. 100 people have been evacuated from the area and the public information officer just told me that their homes may still be considered threatened. now, the big sur volunteer fire brigade is on the fire lines as well is reporting on its website that 15 to 20 homes have already been destroyed and that that includes the fire chief in the area but that number could certainly increase. the update i just received is that the assessment team is now just getting on the ground and we'll have more information for the people living in the area later today but for now many are just waiting at local inns and restaurants hoping for good news. >> you can see propane tanks exploding on the ridge. so a lot of smoke today, you know, it's basically been raining ash. been looking pregty bad -- pretty bad. >> the fire has burned at least 550 acres and is only 5% contained this morning. now, i just spoke to the command center. firefighters say the visibility is clear right now, pretty cool and not very windy but that there is always a chance of an inversion in the area. that could make fighting even more difficult. we'll get updates throughout the day. i'm pam cook, let's go back to tori and dave. 8:36. new this morning, a bipartisan budget bill passed a key test vote in the u.s. senate. democrats needed 60 votes to move the bill forward. the bill passed by 67-33 vote. that means it will go through a final vote in the senate no mater -- no later than tomorrow and head to the white house to be signed into law. the bill eases some painful across the board spending cuts that would otherwise slam the pentagon and other agencies. it would also avert another government shutdown for at least two years. in colorado, family members are asking for prayers for a 17- year-old girl who remains in a doe ma after a -- coma after a school shooting. clair davis remains in critical condition five days after the shooting at arapahoe high school. students have collected close to $10,000 in donations to help the family. >> in the last couple of days we've had events around arapahoe and the community. we've collected close to $10,000 and we're just collecting whatever we can to help the family out and help them through this and heal ourselves through this. >> investigators say davis just happened to be in the hallway when the shooter, carl pearson, walked into the shooter with a shot gunt and three mol low tove cocktails. they say he asked for tracy murphy who had recently kicked pearson off the debate team. but then started shooting randomly when murphy was not around. 8:38. a devastating diagnosis back here in the bay area for a 19- year-old woman in richmond hit by a stray bullet over the weekend. the family of dominique romero says she's paralyzed from the waist down. she was sitting on a couch in her home on waller avenue saturday night when several shots were fired out in the street. one bullet went through the wall of the house and hit dominique. >> my heart is broken. i cannot mag what she's going through -- imagine what she's going through. she's 19. graduated from high school last year. >> the family says despite the diagnosis dominique is still in good spirits. the police say they are still out there searching for the shooter and the possible motive. the nra is suing, they are trying to block the new gun control ordinance in sunnyvale. the ordinance bans having ammunition magazines that hold more than ten rounds. the lawsuit argues that ten or more rounds is standard for many pistols and rifles sold in the u.s. they also claim it's unkotion stutional -- unconstitutional to limit the number of rounds a person can have. according to the chronicle, coyotes were spotted by the embarcadero and on telegraph hill below coit tower. they've been coming out at night to find food. wildlife officials say coyotes have been roaming more often because it's been such a dry year. a south bay community group will be busy handing out hundreds of holiday food boxes. every year, sacred heart community service in san jose organizes a donation drive. each box has nonperishable food and turkeys for a holiday dinner. organizers still need more toys before christmas because this year there was a bigger demand than expected. 8:40. we do have an epidemic of lottery fever here in the bay area and all over the country. the huge jackpot up for grabs tonight and what could happen christmas eve. and double-trouble in redwood city as crews battle two fires in the same location. the danger in the air created by the larger one. good morning. we're still looking at the traffic around some of the key spots. we have slow traffic in la fayette. we'll tell you what the commute looks like straight ahead. a lot of high clouds. patchy fog has made an appearance. the air quality is not good but it will get better. it will also cool off. i will tell you by how much. blatche wall street focusing on the federal reserve two-day policy meeting. most economists feel the fed will likely keep the economic stimulus measures in place at least through march. consumer prices stayed flat in november. inflation remained slow. the big board, the dow is down 35, the nasdaq down 15. s&p, down 8. 8:44. getting your holiday shopping down, leading up to christmas will soon be available at all hours of the day. toys 'r' us has announced it will stay open 87 hours straight leading up to christmas. that means starting at 6 clg a.m. this -- 6:00 a.m. this saturday, they will stay open until 9:00 p.m. christmas eve. good news for you, mr. clark. their announcement follows the decision by kohl's to stay open more than 100 hours. and online shopping. e-commerce companies say they've seen solid and steady sales since thanksgiving day despite concerns about a possible lull in the middle of the holiday shopping season. but brick and mortar stores report hit-or-miss results. many blamed bad weather across the country. one analysts says retailers brought too much merchandise and it's not exciting to shoppers. today, doctors in oakland will perform one last test on a 13-year-old girl declared brain dead after surgery to take out her tonsils. jahi mcmath started bleeding heavily after the surgery. a decision is expected to be made today about taking jahi off life support after doctors check one more time for signs of brain activity. a san francisco street is blocked off after a building collapsed overnight. this happened about 10:30 on crown terrace in the twin peaks neighborhood. the building is owned by mel murphy who serves on the city's port commission. the building was being renovated when it collapsed. building inspectors are there now trying to figure out why that building came crashing down. and in redwood city, this, right at this hour, a fire is still burring at the sims recycling -- burning at the sims recycling facility. it may have triggered a smaller fire next door. ktvu's janine de la vega, you've been there since 4:30 this morning. so what's happening out there now? >> reporter: well, in the last 30 minutes works moved closer to the fire because they opened up seaport boulevard to traffic. now, you can see the smoke there billowing in the distance. firefighters are working to put it out. they were, though, able to quickly extinguish a second fire close by. fire officials told us people who live on the marina called 911 after hearing an explosion and seeing the fire before 1:00 a.m. when firefighters arrived at the sims recycling facility, they found a huge pile of scrap metal appliances burning. about 100 length in feet and 30 feet high. exka traitors are -- excavators are being used to break apart. this is the fourth fire that's happened at sims. the most recent one happened last month. management have put safety measures in effect to three to prevent more fires from -- try to prevent more fires from happening. >> we will uncover what's going on. we need to understand why these fires are happening just as much as i know the public would like us to tell them. >> reporter: as i mentioned, another fire broke out at around 6:40 a.m. about 200 feet away at a refinery. several vehicles caught on fire. it's been extinguished and is separate from the recycling fire. but officials say an ember from the recycling fire may have sparked that second fire. fire officials don't know the causes of either of the blazes yet. an vge has been sent out. there's concern about the air quality. it is a spare-the-air day today. officials are saying if you do smell smoke, try to stay indoors. i do want to mention we're a lot closer to the fire right now. i can't smell it in the air. but again, if you smell it, stay inside. reporting live from redwood city, janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. more details now on the plant where this fire is burning. there have been four other fires at the same plant in the last six years. the most recent happened a month ago. that fire on november 10th raged for nearly 17 hours. it prompted a shelter-in-place order in three counties due to the heavy smoke coming from the reek siling plant -- recycling plant. the company has been slapped with some fines. in april of 2007, the plant was given a fine for large amounts of contaminants caused by a fire at the plant. then in 2012, the company was ordered by the epa to stop releasing toxic pollutants into the bay. during inspections, investigators found five times the amount of lead allowed by federal law and other dangerous chemicals. boy, lottery fever is really heating up around the bay area as people rush to buy the megamillion lottery jackpot tickets. tonight's jackpot, estimated at $586 million. however, officials say this could top $600 million depending on ticket sales. theres that not been a winner in 21 drawings. bay area people are hoping to win big. >> it only takes one dollar to get in the game. and you only need one ticket to win, the one with the right six numbers. and if there's no winner this week, it's possible that pot could reach, are you ready, $1 billion for the drawing on christmas eve. >> it will be a special day to win. >> yikes. let's see what's happening on the roads. you were telling us earlier, some improvement. >> there is -- dave, did you say $1 billion? >> just like that. >> all right. thank you. let's take a look at what we have. we have some improvement now and we do look at westbound 24. still a little bit slow on the way to the caldecott but the drive time between those two points is short, about eight minutes. we're looking at the bay bridge toll plaza, completely improved coming to san francisco. i want to point out one thing on the peninsula, northbound 101, we have slow traffic approaching the crash in mountain view. right near rangster. use 280 if you can out of the peninsula. let's go to steve. thank you. very hazy. spare the air. tenth day in a row. the air quality is not very good. temperatures will warm up a little bit unless the high clouds counter it. there will be a lot more high clouds. this will be the last warm day. we'll see a big drop in the temperatures. higher clouds continue to stream the. funneled from a low off the coast. a lot of high clouds and again, that has kept some of the lows from getting that cold. 53 san francisco. half moon bay is a. we had a few -- is 50. we had a few 30s. a big shot out to dave in reno. he says it's cold up there. i believe it. not too bad here. we have partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies today. the high-pressure system will get blasted out of here after today. so hazy conditions. really, really bad. cooling trend, then a colder trend starts on wednesday into thursday. temperatures will drop back in the 50s. we're way above average on the highs by a good 10 degrees. partly cloudy today. we'll go with that. it might even be mostly cloudy. the air quality is not that good. 60s to low 70s. a little bit of an offshore breeze for some. that's closer to the bay and also the coast. high temperatures, they will drop off the table starting tomorrow and then take a plunge. rebounding slowly hon the weekend. but the overnight lows will get back in the 30s for many. >> all right. thank you, steve. eight minutes before 9:00. protecting tenants from their landlord. the legislation san francisco supervisors are considering after a rise in complaints about harassment. as rents and evictions soar in san francisco, tenant harassment may be on the rise. the san francisco examiner reports housing advocates are seeing an increase in complaints about harassments as landlords try to force tenants out of rent controlled units. san francisco's board of supervisors is scheduled to vote today on legislation that would allow tenants to bring complaints to a rent board for free. tenants currently only have the option of filing a lawsuit which many say they just cannot afford to do. the palo alto city council has decided to temporarily suspend enforcing an ordinance that bans people from living in their cars. the city manager had recommended that the vehicle habitation ordinance be delayed until the 9th circuit court of appeal rules on whether a similar law in los angeles is constitutional. the palo alto city council passed the ordinance in august. enforcement was set to begin in february. 8:55. the city of vallejo officially honored the hero firefighters who recently rescued a baby. >> congratulations, life-saving award from the vallejo fire department. >> firefighters were honored during last night's vallejo city council meeting. they rushed to save a baby girl who fell in the waters at blue rock springs creek. at one point, the child was in critical condition. but she's since made a full recovery. the shortage of hotel rooms is reportedly one reason levi stadium in santa clara will not be able to host the college football national championship game in 2017. the 49ers and the city of zlar wanted that big -- santa clara wanted that big game to come to the stadium. levi stadium was among six bidders. but tampa's raymond james stadium will host the game. organizers say they passed on santa clara because other cities had more hotel rooms that were closer to the stadium. it is ticket tuesday. today, one viewer will win a pair of tickets to cirque du soleil's new show. the tickets are good for the new year's eve show. it begins at 1:00 in san francisco. to enter go to ktvu.com before midnight tonight and enter the secret word "holiday." >> that's easy to do. >> nice way to spend part of your holiday. let's check in with sal. how are we looking? >> we look okay. the air quality in the silicon valley is bad according to a tweet. let's take a look at the commute in san francisco, northbound 101 looks good approaching the 80 split. also the morning commute is light at the bay bridge toll plaza. if you are driving on 880 sound from leweling to 92, it's improving. i concur. a couple of tweets coming in bad air quality. the peninsula, i don't think it's all that sims fire. i just think there's air quality today. it will turn cooler on wednesday. colder and breezy. that will help on the air quality on thursday. back to sunny but cooler as we head towards friday/saturday. >> all right, steve. >> okay, steve. that's our report for this morning. thanks for making ktvu your choice for news. be sure to watch the news at noon for more on the double- trouble in redwood city. live pictures here, two fires at one location. we're always here for you at ktvu.com as well as twitter and facebook. thanks for joining us. hi, every. i'm beth troutman. great videos are coming your way "right this minute." rescuers try to reach people in a burning building faced with a desperate choice. how one lucky break saves his life. >> a guy's out working in his driveway but -- >> i'm just driving down the street. >> what's the dude d